Title: Shatter MeAuthor: Tahereh Mafi
Published: November 15th 2011 by Harper/Harper Collins
Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Summary:
Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days.Emma's thoughts:
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.
Mind.
The writing ~ I really like Mafi's writing style, even though some found it annoyingly repetitive. I love the repetition and the strikethroughs. It gives the story the exact touch it needs. It's unique, it's striking. The lack of commas in places sometimes bothered me (and the numbers!), but Mafi made it work more often than not. She strings words together so beautifully, I want to hold them to sleep. There are so many lovely quotes in the book; talk about raindrops, birds, about life. I wish I could memorize them all.
The characters ~ Juliette is a bit of a confusing character at the beginning. She's isolated, she's lost. This is good though, because you get to see her grow and mature through the book. She's the one with all the power. The one with the lethal touch. Adam, he surprised me. I was so caught up in the story, I never stopped to consider how he really fit in it all. He has such faith in Juliette, it's honestly such a moving sentiment. I feel like he's a constant, a reliable anchor. Maybe, in the second and third books, while Juliette is fighting with her touch of death, he'll be the one to hold her to reality.
Warner is intriguing... to say the least. He's so obviously posed as the bad guy, it makes me want Juliette to become his ally one day, in one way or another. He's not nearly creepy enough to be considered a devil's spawn. He's a character I can't wait to read more about! And James! He is so adorable! The brotherly love between Adam and James makes me all giddy. I mean, why can't all older brothers be as awesome as Adam? I know mine isn't... And last of all, Kenji! He made me laugh, and that was enough for me. He served a purpose much more than to entertain us readers though, and as for what, I'll let you find out for yourselves!
The story ~ I can't say it's original. Supernatural powers in the new age? Sounds like a billion other dystopian novels around. But Mafi didn't overwhelm us with completely odd powers from the very beginning. It's Juliette, and only Juliette's story. It's chair-gripping, hair-ripping. So many times I found myself holding my breath in anticipation. So many times, I wanted to dive through the pages myself and fight along.
As some of you may know, this book made it to many of my favourites of 2011. If I could devour Tahereh Mafi's words, I would.
Rating: 5 stars - simply breathtaking ♥
First line:
I've been locked up for 264 days.
Favourite:
Hope is hugging me, holding me in it's arms, wiping away my tears and telling me that today and tomorrow and two days from now I will be just fine and I'm so delirious I actually dare to believe it.
Teaser:
Warner drops the gun on my plate. The silence gives it space to clatter around the universe and back. "Choose your words very wisely, Juliette. One word from me and your life here won't be so easy."
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